Commodores' Cup trials round two

An OCS and a retirement disguised a promising weekend of racing for the young
Bear of Britain crew in the second round of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) trials to find the two English teams for August’s Rolex Commodores’ Cup.

Kit Hobday’s Farr 52, steered by Mark Campbell-James finished fifth overall in the two day, five race series organised by the Royal Thames Yacht Club, but they still hold a slender four point lead in the overall trials’.

Since the withdrawal of the second Farr 52,
Team Tonic, it may appear that
Bear’s selection is a foregone conclusion, but Campbell-James and his team acknowledge they can not allow any more slip ups if they are to secure the selectors confidence. "In the first race on Saturday [a seven mile windward leeward off Beaulieu] we were a bit eager on the start line and got an OCS, but apparently the selectors said we won the race on handicap, but obviously it will not count," he told
madfor
sailing.

Their next hiccup was a gear failure, rather than a sailing fault. "In the second race the main halyard snapped so we had to retire and fully re-mouse the halyard. The crew did it in 25 minutes which was quite impressive."

Both the opening races were won by John Shepard’s Ker 11.3
Fair Do’s V. RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park took a weekend off his duties to take a place in the afterguard, but
Fair Do’s now has to face up to an arbitration committee to hear a protest over carrying extra crew, along with
Jackdaw.

Races three and four saw the
Bear crew get some first places on their scoreboard, although they were surprised to come out on top in two remarkably short races. "Race three took 29 minutes and then next one 31 minutes and we won both of those which was quite good considering we are bigger boat and we didn’t believe we would have much chance in a short race," added Campbell-James.

The selectors went for a double-points single long inshore race on Sunday with some 25-mark roundings. The yachts were required to do two rounds of a set of Solent markers and buoys with first lap against the tide and the second with it.

The eventual corrected time winner was ACP Sailing's Beneteau 40.7
Fastwave 2, which went on to win the weekend and takes sixth place in the overall trial series. Chris Bull’s Ker 11.3,
Kerisma is now second to
Bear of Britain after two of the three regattas used to nominate the team, although a number of protests remain to be heard from the weekend that could influence the overall results.

The RYA Selection Trials for the 2002 Rolex Commodores’ Cup concludes on the 28-30 June at the Amicus IRC Championships at Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth.

The selection committee of Chairman, Ian Macdonald-Smith, John Derbyshire the RYA Racing Manager, Dave Atkinson, Vice Commodore of the Island Sailing Club and Guy Barron, will assess what they have seen over the three weekends and will be looking to announce the two English teams on 2 July.

Overall Results from the Royal Thames Yacht Club weekend

Place

Yacht

Sail no

TCF

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

race 5

Points

1

Fastwave 2

GBR 2

1.071

2

2

4

5

2

15

2

Fair Do's V

GBR 1106L

1.159

1

1

3

3

8

16

3

Kerisma

GBR 1103L

1.159

4

4

2

11

6

27

4

El Gringo

GBR 1107L

1.159

3

5

6

2

12

28

5

Bear of Britain

GBR 51

1.316

14

14

1

1

4

34

6

Too Steamy

GBR 1640R

1.17

* 7

6

7

9

10

39

7

Fandango

GBR6693

1.076

14

3

8

5

16

46

8

Jackdaw

K4243T

1.063

8

8

4

8

20

48

9

Serendip

GBR6510N

1.086

6

7

11

4

24

52

10

Kirribilli

GBR 7000

1.142

10

13

14

7

14

58

11

Born Slippy II

GBR38R

1.085

7

9

13

10

22

61

12

Firestorm

GBR 6505N

1.085

9

12

12

13

18

64

13

Capitalism

GBR 9359R

1.038

14

10

10

10

26

70

14

Carpetbagger

GBR 7722R

1.041

11

11

9

12

28

71

RYA Selection Trials for the 2002 Rolex Commodores' Cup English team after two events